Brian Easton: St Johnstone looking to crash top four party

St Johnstone left-back Brian Easton has set his sights on breaking into the top four of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Rangers, Aberdeen and Hearts have been tipped to be the closest challengers to champions Celtic this season but Saints have made a steady start and can send out a further signal of intent when they take on the second-placed Jambos on Saturday.

The Perth side have finished in the top six for five consecutive seasons and Easton aims to be right in the midst of the pack chasing the league leaders.

“That’s what we are looking at,” said Easton, who was helping launch the Topps SPFL Match Attax cards at Hampden. “Right now, if you look at the way Celtic are playing in the league, it’s hard to see them not winning it.

“It will probably take a few more games to see how other teams are faring, such as Rangers.

“But, although they are big clubs with good squads, we are looking to be in among that pack or as close to it as we can.

“Last year we didn’t finish too far off Hearts in third. So we start looking at the runs we went on that weren’t great and the points we dropped and think ‘If we just picked up a wee result there or a goal there, we could have challenged for third place’.

“It’s important we stay ambitious but still wary about how close it can be with all the other teams in the league as well.”